As usual, it is EXACTLY a matter of semantics. As you have seen in the discussion there is a divergence on what the terms duplicate, clone, copy and paste mean.

Most of the "old timers" know that the element object isn't the whole story regarding the semantics of the element. The relationships and other properties also play a part. The semantics of "copy and paste" in the simple case ONLY make a copy of the element. In Sparx EA terms, cloning means copying the object, its properties and relationships. "Duplication" isn't really a valid concept since the resulting clone is not an exact copy, but a "doppelganger".

So if all you want to do is make a second element with all the same properties as the original but none of the relationships, then that's relatively simple. Otherwise, as the others have said it's trickier than it first looks.